Vice President, Launch (New Store) Operations

Wonder • New York, NY

2d • $290,000 - $318,500

About The Position

Everything’s on the menu at Wonder. Except compromise. Wonder is the mealtime platform built to feed every craving in one order. With Wonder, you can mix and match hundreds of dishes from 20+ exclusive restaurants in a single order, so everyone gets exactly what they’re craving. Enjoy everything from tacos to Thai with $0 delivery fees, plus dine-in or pick up at a Wonder location near you. Each dish is made to order on-site by our culinary team and served hot. Behind the scenes, Wonder owns and operates every step of the dining experience, from recipe development to the technology that powers our experience, allowing us to deliver quality, variety, and consistency at scale. Join us as we work to make great food more accessible. Vice President, New Store Openings & Operational Readiness Role Overview The Vice President of New Store Openings & Operational Readiness is a critical enterprise leader responsible for defining and executing the company’s strategy for scaling new restaurant growth at pace. This role owns the vision, strategy, and end-to-end execution model that enables hundreds of successful openings annually—ensuring each location launches with operational excellence, strong leadership, and a best-in-class guest experience from day one. As a key member of the senior leadership team, the Vice President will build and lead a high-performing, cross-functional organization responsible for pre-opening strategy, opening execution, and post-opening stabilization. This leader will architect scalable systems, talent strategies, and operational frameworks that support aggressive expansion while preserving consistency, quality, and brand standards. The Vice President will serve as the connective tissue across Operations, Development, Training, Facilities, and People teams—ensuring alignment, accountability, and seamless execution across all phases of growth.

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience in restaurant operations, multi-unit leadership, or large-scale new store openings.
• Proven track record of leading high-volume, multi-market expansion strategies.
• Experience building scalable systems, training infrastructures, and operational playbooks.
• Demonstrated success operating at the executive level within high-growth or complex organizations.
• Strong understanding of restaurant unit economics and operational performance drivers.

Responsibilities

• Enterprise New Store Opening Strategy Define and own the long-term strategy for new store openings, aligned with company growth targets and market expansion plans.
• Build a scalable operating model capable of supporting 100–200+ openings annually while maintaining operational excellence.
• Establish standardized, repeatable opening frameworks that ensure consistency across all markets and formats.
• Partner with executive leadership to align development pacing with operational capacity and talent readiness.
• End-to-End Execution Excellence Oversee the full lifecycle of all openings—from pre-opening planning through post-opening stabilization and transition to field leadership.
• Ensure every location launches fully staffed, trained, and operationally prepared to meet performance and guest experience expectations.
• Drive accountability across all stakeholders to deliver openings on time, on budget, and at standard.
• Develop and enforce best-in-class opening playbooks, deployment models, and execution standards.
• Operational Readiness & Standards Establish enterprise-wide standards for operational readiness, ensuring consistency in:
• Leadership preparedness (General Manager and above)
• Talent acquisition, onboarding, and staffing models
• Equipment readiness and facility setup
• Operational workflows, systems, and station execution
• Implement rigorous readiness assessments and go/no-go criteria for all openings.
• Ensure each restaurant is positioned to deliver exceptional guest experiences from day one.
• Training Strategy & Capability Building Own the strategy and evolution of all new store opening training programs.
• Build scalable, data-driven training systems that enable rapid growth without compromising quality.
• Develop enterprise frameworks to measure:
• Team member proficiency and certification
• Leadership readiness
• Training effectiveness and ROI
• Partner with Learning & Development to continuously innovate training delivery, content, and deployment models.
• Post-Opening Performance & Stabilization Define and drive the company’s approach to post-opening stabilization, ensuring rapid ramp to target performance.
• Establish and monitor key performance indicators, including:
• Speed of service (Order-to-Eat)
• Guest experience and accuracy
• Labor optimization
• Waste and cost controls
• Facilities and equipment performance
• Build systems and processes that reduce time-to-stability and ensure smooth transition to regional ownership.
• Data, Metrics & Continuous Improvement Establish a comprehensive performance management system for new store openings.
• Leverage data and analytics to identify trends, risks, and opportunities across the opening pipeline.
• Drive continuous improvement across:
• Opening timelines and execution models
• Training effectiveness
• Operational readiness benchmarks
• Implement scalable tools, dashboards, and reporting to enable real-time decision-making.
• Cross-Functional Executive Leadership Serve as the central leader aligning cross-functional teams, including:
• Operations (Regional Directors & Vice Presidents)
• Development & Construction
• Facilities & Supply Chain
• Training & People teams
• Influence and align senior stakeholders to ensure seamless execution and shared accountability.
• Act as a strategic advisor to executive leadership on growth pacing, operational risk, and readiness.
• Organizational Leadership & Talent Strategy Build and lead a high-performing organization responsible for all aspects of new store openings.
• Develop leadership pipelines and succession plans to support continued growth.
• Foster a culture of accountability, operational excellence, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure the organization is structured and resourced to scale with the business.

Benefits

• We offer a competitive salary package including equity and 401K.
• Additionally, we provide multiple medical, dental, and vision plans to meet all of our employees' needs as well as many benefits and perks that are not listed.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive
• Education Level: No Education Listed